


The Bracelet

by BattlingBard



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence, F/F, bitter sweet, don't read before bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 19:35:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15979010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BattlingBard/pseuds/BattlingBard
Summary: Kara designs a signal bracelet for Lena and decides to tell Lena about her secret identity.





	The Bracelet

**Kara**

Thanks again for having lunch with me!

 

**Lena**

<3

I think I should be the one thanking you.

 

**Kara**

No, stop it. I’m the lucky one here!

 

Kara bites her thumb as she smiles down at her phone, reading over the past few messages again.

“I know that smile.”

Looking up, Kara sees Alex raising a knowing eyebrow at her as she leans against the table in her lab. “What?” Her phone buzzes with another text, and Alex smirks at her.

“I think Lena text you back.”

Kara hides her phone screen against her stomach. “I never said I was texting Lena.”

“You didn’t have to.” Alex rolls her eyes playfully when Kara’s dart down to her phone. “Aren’t you going to answer her?”

With a slightly embarrassed smile, Kara checks her message.

 

**Lena**

That’s not an argument you will win, Miss Danvers.

 

Kara bites her lip as a giddy chuckle escapes. Both of Alex’s eyebrows raise at that. “You still haven’t talked to her yet, have you?”

Sighing, Kara hits send and turns her attention to her big sister. “At lunch, I thought about asking her if she would want to go to dinner with me.”

“And?”

Kara’s head flops over the back of the chair she’s sitting in with a groan. “It was such a nice lunch. I didn’t want to risk spoiling that with her saying ‘no,’ and things getting awkward.”

“Kara, I really don’t think she would say ‘no.’”

“You don’t know that for sure.” Kara rolls her head to the side to look at her sister.

Alex pushes off the table and turns around to look through the items on her desk as she continues talking. “Kara, you two talk on the phone at least once a day. You’ve had lunch with her every day for the past month. She texts you first thing in the morning and invites you as her guest to all of her events.” She pulls a small box from a case and drops it in Kara’s lap. “You had Winn design a bracelet with a distress button and Lena’s birthstone with an engraving on the silver plating.” She crosses her arms over her chest, silently daring her sister to dispute her evidence.

Blinking in mild shock, Kara’s mouth falls open as she cradles the box in her lap. “Um.” Alex smirks in triumph. Kara clears her throat, sitting up straighter in the chair and looking down at the box in her lap. “He finished it?”

Alex chuckles and shakes her head before walking to the other side of the table to work on something. “Yeah, he finished it during your not date with Lena.”

A smile spreads across Kara’s features as she slowly opens the box. “Wow.” Her voice is full of awe. “It’s perfect,” she whispers, reverently sliding her fingers along the metal.

“No offense to Winn, but you should check and see if the button works,” Alex states matter-of-factly. “Not like he can actually test it well himself.”

“Oh. Yeah. Right.” Kara minutely shakes her head into focus before carefully removing the bracelet from the box. “Where - Oh.” She finds the catch to open the distress button and presses it. She winces slightly and quickly presses it again. “Yup, it works,” she places the bracelet back into the box, “better than James’ actually.”

“That’s good, right?” Alex looks across the table at her sister, who is still observing the bracelet in wonder.

“Um. Yeah. Yeah.” Kara shakes her head again, still in shock at how perfectly the bracelet matches the image she had in her mind. “It’s really good. I- I’ll be able to hear it from anywhere, I’m sure.” There’s a smile playing at the corner of her lips. “I can’t wait to give it to her.”

“Maybe Supergirl can give it to her right now, and then when she calls Kara to tell her about it, you can ask her to dinner.”

Kara gapes at her sister. “How do you know she would call me?”

Alex just gives her a knowing look.

“Okay, well there’s only one problem with that plan. She’s in a meeting for the next few hours, so Supergirl will have to visit her tonight before she leaves work.”

“Then she’ll call you before you even get home.”

Kara only laughs and shakes her head in a mixture of amusement and embarrassment.

“And you can ask her then.”

“Alex,” Kara groans.

“Kara,” Alex mimics in a teasing way.

“Fine!” Kara throws her hands up. “I’ll ask her tomorrow at lunch.” Alex’s eyebrows pinch together skeptically. “Really.” Alex still doesn’t say anything. “I’ll just… ask her to have dinner with me and see how that goes.”

Alex turns her attention back to her laptop, but there’s a faint smile on her face. “Okay, Kara.”

“Really. I will. I just won’t say ‘date.’ I’ll wait to see how she responds.”

“You two are going to be great together, Kara.” Alex smiles lovingly at her little sister. “I can’t wait to look back on this conversation and tell her all about it.”

Kara wants to be offended, but a giggle betrays her. “She hasn’t said ‘yes.’”

“She will.”

“I hope so,” Kara says with a sigh.

“How long do you have to wait until you can take the bracelet to her?” Alex begins cleaning up her things for the day.

Kara shrugs. “The meeting’s scheduled until 4, but she’ll text me when she’s done.”

“I’m sure she will,” Alex quips under her breath.

“I heard that.”

“You were supposed to.” Alex’s response is instant. “Do you want to go get some sparring in while you wait?”

“Okay.”

* * *

 

“Hang on,” Kara calls to her sister as she jogs off the mat to retrieve her ringing phone. “It’s Lena.” She answers the phone with a smile. “Hey, Lena.”

Alex sits on a bench and drinks from her water bottle. “Tell Lena I said ‘hi.’”

Kara waves off the comment, walking away from Alex and pacing around the room as she speaks. “I was just hanging out with Alex.”

There’s a faint chuckle from Lena. “Well give her a ‘hello’ for me.”

“Lena says ‘hello,” Kara tells Alex over her shoulder. “She said ‘hi.’” She misses the eye roll from Alex. “You’re done with your meeting early.”

“Yes, well, the agenda was cut short, so I thought I would call my favorite person.”

“Aww.” Kara smiles as she looks down at her shuffling feet. “Stop it.”

Lena chuckles again. “I can’t help it.” She takes a deep breath. “It feels like much longer than a few hours since I last saw you.”

Kara bites her lip, trying to stifle a giggle. “That’s why I’ve been trying to kill time until you got out of your meeting and could call me.”

“We’re pretty ridiculous.”

That gets a surprise laugh from Kara. “That’s what Alex says.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah.” Kara walks along the edge of the mat, playing with the edge of her shirt with her free hand. “Her and Maggie, actually.”

“Hmm… Then it must be true.”

“If it’s true, then it’s a good kind of ridiculous.” Kara sees Alex shake her head in amusement, but ignores her.

“That’s good to know.” She takes in a slow breath. “I should let you get back to your sister.”

“Oh, no, Lena. It’s fine. We were done. You aren’t keeping me from anything.”

Lena lets out a single chuckle. “Still… I’m sure your sister is giving you exasperated looks behind your back.” That brings a laugh from Kara. “I’ll let you go, okay?”

“Oh, okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

Lena hums in acknowledgement. “I lo… I had a great time at lunch today.”

“I always have a great time with you.”

“Likewise,” Lena whispers. “Have fun with your sister.”

“Will do. Bye, Lena.”

“Bye, Kara.”

Kara hangs up the phone. When she turns to face her sister, she’s biting her lip in an attempt to hide the giddy smile threatening to take over her features. “That was Lena.”

“I had no idea.” Alex shakes her head with a fond smile. “So you heading over there with the bracelet now?”

“I’ll go in like 30 minutes. I don’t want to be too obvious.”

“Right…” Alex doesn’t sound convinced about Kara’s ability to be subtle. She smiles softly at her sister. “She’s going to love the bracelet, Kar.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

* * *

Lena pulls her phone away from her ear, ending the call and letting the phone drop to the ground beside her. She’s sitting on the floor of her office with her back against the window. She adjusts her position, causing a fresh flow of blood to seep over the hand pressed against her stomach. Wincing in pain, she uses her free hand to push herself toward her desk - close enough to grab the edge of the notepad hanging over the side. It falls to her lap, causing the pen that was on top of it to land on the ground. Holding her breath, she stretches to reach the pen. She doesn’t quite hold back the gasp that escapes from her lungs as she manages to grab the pen.

With the pen squeezed tightly in her hand, she rests back against her desk, taking deep breaths as her vision blurs in and out of focus.

“Okay, Lena,” she whispers.

Blinking her eyes into focus, she flips the notebook to a blank page before setting it on the ground beside her. With one hand still pressed to her abdomen, she uses her free hand to bring the tip of the pen to the paper.

 

_Kara -_

_I’m the lucky one for having your voice be the last one I heard._

 

She swallows thickly as tears blur her vision. With a decisive nod, she continues writing.

 

_I love you._

 

A single tear makes its way down her cheek.

 

_Lena_

 

“I’m sorry I never said it.”

The sound of the pen hitting the ground fills the office.

* * *

 

**Kara**

Thanks again for having lunch with me!

 

Lena smiles down at her phone sitting in her lap. Biting her lip, she types the only response she can think of.

 

**Lena**

<3

 

“Get it together, Lena. You type words all the time.”

 

**Lena**

I think I should be the one thanking you.

 

**Kara**

No, stop it. I’m the lucky one here!

 

Kara’s instant response turns Lena’s smile giddy. With an involuntary sigh, she comes up with something to say in return.

 

**Lena**

That’s not an argument you will win, Miss Danvers.

 

**Kara**

We’ll see about that, Miss Luthor.

 

“Paul Brenner and Stuart Campbell are here to see you, Miss Luthor.”

Lena presses the button to speak through her intercom to her assistant. “Thank you, Chloe. You can send them in.” She stands to greet her visitors as they walk into her office. “Dr. Brenner. Mr. Campbell.” She shakes each man’s hand in turn. “Please, sit.” Gesturing to the two chairs across from her desk, she resumes her own seat.

“Thank you for meeting with us, Miss Luthor,” Dr. Brenner greets her.

Nodding in acknowledgement, Lena crosses her legs and leans back in her chair. “I must say I was quite intrigued when Chloe became insistent on me meeting with the two of you. She’s been with me for nearly three years, which is quite the record. She has never recommended anyone for a project before. I’m curious to see who has impressed the ever serious Chloe Sullivan.”

Dr. Brenner hums. “Remind me to thank her later then.”

“Of course. Now,” Lena uncrosses her legs and interlaces her fingers as she rests her forearms on her desk, “let’s hear your proposal.”

* * *

 

“We think this would be a tremendous leap forward in stem cell research,” Dr. Brenner concludes.

“I see,” Lena comments with a neutral tone. “And where do you fit into all of this, Mr. Campbell?”

He watches her for a moment before leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees. “My skill set.” Lena raises an eyebrow, waiting for further explanation. Mr. Campbell abruptly stands and paces a few steps away from the desk with his back to Lena. “I went to MIT as well.”

“Ah, a fellow graduate.”

“Hmm… that I am.” Mr. Campbell turns halfway to look at Lena. “I’ve read your dissertation enough times to have it memorized.”

“I’m flattered.”

He steps behind his chair, resting his hands on the back. “I’ve been following your research since and have avidly tracked L-Corp’s growth under your management.”

Lena sits back in her chair, watching her guests closely.

“You’ve become quite friendly with non-humans as of late.”

Tensing her jaw, Lena raises her chin. “Is there a question somewhere?”

“Nope.” He stands up straight and paces behind the two chairs while Dr. Brenner crosses one ankle over the other knee and watches Lena closely. “Just an observation.”

“If you have a problem collaborating with an alien-friendly company, then I’m afraid this isn’t going to work out.” She stands and looks Mr. Campbell right in the eye.

Mr. Campbell stops his pacing to meet Lena’s gaze unflinchingly. “A few years ago, Luthor Corp began funding a grant for something called Project Intercept… Then you pulled funding.” He takes a step closer to Lena’s desk. “That was our project.”

Lena crosses her arms over her chest. “Sorry to disappoint you, gentlemen, but this isn’t Luthor Corp. This is L-Corp.” She raises an eyebrow in challenge. “I think you’ll find our values are quite different.”

In an impressively quick motion, Mr. Campbell draws a gun with a silencer and shoots Lena. She gasps as she stumbles in shock, falling forward against her desk with one hand pressed against the gunshot wound and the other propping her up against the desk. Dr. Brenner stands directly across from Lena, bending over to meet her eyes directly. She meets his gaze.

“Thank you for your time, Miss Luthor.”

The door opens, and Chloe enters the office. “Are you two done, yet?”

Mr. Campbell smirks down at Lena, who is staying on her feet by pure will. “Yes, I do believe we are.” The two men follow Chloe out of the door.

“Have a nice day, Miss Luthor.’ Chloe shuts the door behind them.

Lena’s knees buckle as soon as the door closes. She barely manages to grab her phone from her desk on her way to the floor. With one hand staying pressed to her stomach over her liver, she struggles to push herself across the floor until her back is pressed against the glass behind her. Her breaths come quickly after moving those two feet. She moves her hand away from her stomach just enough to see the damage. A large amount of blood flows freely, and she quickly puts pressure back on the wound. She takes a few steadying breaths, knowing enough about the anatomy of an aorta to recognize there’s nothing that can be done in time.

By muscle memory, she calls Kara with her eyes firmly shut in deference to the lightheadedness threatening to take her vision. She holds her breath until she hears Kara’s voice.

“Hey, Lena.”

Hearing the smile in Kara’s voice brings an involuntary smile to her own face.

“I was just hanging out with Alex.”

Lena can’t help the chuckle at the mental image of Alex rolling her eyes behind Kara’s back. “Well give her a ‘hello’ for me.”

“Lena says ‘hello.” Lena smiles more widely, using every ounce of willpower to keep her breathing as quiet as possible. “She said ‘hi.’ You’re done with your meeting early.”

She looks down at the alarming amount of blood now on the floor. “Yes, well, the agenda was cut short, so I thought I would call my favorite person.”

“Aww.” Lena has a feeling she knows what face Kara is making. “Stop it.”

Lena chuckles again, knowing Kara is blushing. “I can’t help it.” She takes a deep breath as she makes her decision to have their last conversation end with a smile on Kara’s face. “It feels like much longer than a few hours since I last saw you.”

“That’s why I’ve been trying to kill time until you got out of your meeting and could call me.”

An unwelcome lump takes residence in Lena’s throat. “We’re pretty ridiculous.” She knows her voice is a touch breathless, but it’s not the first time it has been when she speaks to Kara.

The bubbly laugh from Kara tells Lena she made the right choice. “That’s what Alex says.”

“Oh, really?” Knowing Kara talks about her to her sister sends a warmth through her.

“Yeah. Her and Maggie, actually.”

“Hmm…” She tries not to wonder about how much Kara talks about her. “Then it must be true.”

“If it’s true, then it’s a good kind of ridiculous.”

“That’s good to know.” She takes in a slow breath as her vision fades out for several seconds. “I should let you get back to your sister.”

“Oh, no, Lena. It’s fine. We were done. You aren’t keeping me from anything.”

Lena lets out a single chuckle, wishing more than anything that she could remain on the line until her last breath, but she doesn’t want her last words to be a painful memory for Kara. “Still… I’m sure your sister is giving you exasperated looks behind your back.” Kara’s laugh wraps around Lena’s heart. “I’ll let you go, okay?” She bites her lip to keep it from quivering.

“Oh, okay. I’ll talk to you later.” Kara doesn’t sound disappointed… much to Lena’s relief.

Lena hums in acknowledgement. “I lo… I had a great time at lunch today.” She mentally chides herself for not being able to say the three words she has wanted to for so long.

“I always have a great time with you.”

“Likewise,” Lena whispers as she pictures some of her favorite moments with Kara. “Have fun with your sister.”

“Will do. Bye, Lena.”

“Bye, Kara.”

Lena pulls her phone away from her ear, ending the call and letting the phone drop to the ground beside her. She’s sitting on the floor of her office with her back against the window. She adjusts her position, causing a fresh flow of blood to seep over the hand pressed against her stomach. Wincing in pain, she uses her free hand to push herself toward her desk - close enough to grab the edge of the notepad hanging over the side. It falls to her lap, causing the pen that was on top of it to land on the ground. Holding her breath, she stretches to reach the pen. She doesn’t quite hold back the gasp that escapes from her lungs as she manages to grab the pen.

With the pen squeezed tightly in her hand, she rests back against her desk, taking deep breaths as her vision blurs in and out of focus.

“Okay, Lena,” she whispers.

Blinking her eyes into focus, she flips the notebook to a blank page before setting it on the ground beside her. With one hand still pressed to her abdomen, she uses her free hand to bring the tip of the pen to the paper.

_Kara -_

_I’m the lucky one for having your voice be the last one I heard._

She swallows thickly as tears blur her vision. With a decisive nod, she continues writing.

_I love you._

A single tear makes its way down her cheek.

_Lena_

“I’m sorry I never said it.”

The sound of the pen hitting the ground fills the office.

* * *

 

“Geesh, Kara. Just go.”

Kara looks at her sister with wide eyes.

“You’re bouncing your leg so hard that you’re shaking the building.”

“What? Really?” Kara stares at her leg that is no longer bouncing.

Alex rolls her eyes. “Seriously… It’s been 20 minutes. Just take a scenic route. Fly over a dog park. Save a cat from a tree.”

“I haven’t figured out what I’m going to say.”

Laughing, Alex sits across from Kara. “You don’t have to. Just say what comes to mind.”

Kara snorts out a laugh.”Okay. Okay.” She stands from the chair, picking up the box with the bracelet from the table in front of her. “Wish me luck.”

“You won’t need it.” Alex smiles encouragingly at her sister. “Let me know how it goes!”

“You’ll be first to know!”

Supergirl spends a few lazy minutes flying in loops above the clouds, daydreaming about how her conversation with Lena will go. By the time she’s hovering over L-Corp, there’s a goofy smile on her face. She takes a few moments to force her features into a more Supergirl expression.

“Hey, Lena. I just stopped by to bring you something I thought would come in handy.” She chuckles nervously. “This’ll just make it a little more efficient next time you get in trouble.” Groaning, she rubs her forehead. “This is for you… in case you ever need me, there’s a button…” With a sigh, she shakes her head. “Just say what comes to mind. Okay.” With a decisive nod, she lowers herself to Lena’s balcony, fidgeting with the box in her hands. She takes a deep breath before looking up at the door and walking into Lena’s office. “Hey, Le -”

Everything stops.

In under a second, Supergirl takes in everything in the office. The cold, emptiness that weighs on her like an entire planet. The deafening silence where there was once her best friend’s voice. The red drops staining the immaculate desk. The discarded phone that provided her with some of her favorite conversations. The deep pool of red threatening to swallow her whole.

The human that she happily gave her heart to is lying unmoving on the floor.

“Lena.”

Her voice breaks as she falls to her knees beside Lena, and her hands hover over her for a moment. Not seeing any movement of her chest, she gingerly pulls Lena into her arms and ignores the tightening of her own chest at how Lena’s head flops backward.

“Lena?” She tucks Lena’s head in the crook of her arm and straightens her blouse, getting cold blood on her hand, but not caring in the slightest. “I need you to wake up, okay?” Taking a deep breath, she brings her hand up to stroke Lena’s cheek. “Lena? Hey, it’s Kara. I’m here. It’s going to be okay. You have to be okay. I got you something, so this wouldn’t happen.”

Cupping Lena’s cheek, something catches her attention out of the corner of her eye.

She sucks in a ragged breath.

“You knew?”

Her eyes go down to Lena’s face.

“You called me, and you knew?”

She holds Lena closer to her.

“I could have saved you,” she whispers into Lena’s hair.

Her eyes read the note again.

“I could have saved you!” Her scream bounces off the walls before a blast of heat vision follows, scorching a mark in the ceiling.

The scream turns into a sob as she buries her face in Lena’s hair. Lena’s cold cheek presses against hers. She pulls Lena as close to her as possible, trying to transfer some of her warmth to her best friend.

“No.”

She sits up, straightening Lena’s clothes and pushing the stray hair behind her ears. “We’re going to fix this.” Picking up the box beside her, she removes the bracelet with one hand before maneuvering it onto Lena’s wrist. After closing the box, she scoops Lena into her arms and raises to her feet. She places Lena’s limp arms on her lap before looking at the face she was so excited to see moments ago.

“I’m going to fix this.”

Supergirl blasts out of Lena’s office, going faster than she ever has before. Seconds later, she’s standing in front of Alex with Lena held tightly in her arms.

Alex drops the tablet in her hands with her eyes going wide, stumbling back a few steps. “Kara, what the -” She loses all thought when she comprehends the sight before her. Her hands are immediately going to Lena’s head, checking for a pulse. She doesn’t comment on the coldness of Lena’s skin as she continues her evaluation that’s feeling more pointless with every breath. “What happened?” When she looks up at her sister, she’s staring down at Lena’s face with a blank expression. “Kara?”

The hero hugs Lena closer to her chest, not showing any indication of having heard Alex.

“Kara?” She takes in a deep breath, swallowing a few times to be able to speak past the lump trying to form in her throat. “Kara, I’m so sorry. I - I…” She rubs a hand over her eyes with a frustrated huff. “Kara, there’s nothing…” Her voice breaks as she tries to blink away the blurriness at the edge of her vision. She pulls her phone from her pocket to lift it to her ear.

“Don’t.”

“What?” Alex isn’t sure if she imagined Kara talking or not.

“There’s no point.”

“Kara, you -”

Without warning, Kara’s legs give out from under her and she collapses to her knees, hiding her face in Lena’s hair. Alex goes to the ground with her, kneeling beside her sister and resting her chin on Kara’s head as she holds her. One of Lena’s hands falls to the floor.

“Oh, Kara,” Alex says on a broken exhale when she sees the bracelet on Lena’s bloody wrist. She tenses her jaw hard enough to cause pain, fighting back her own cries. Her tears silently track down her face to fall into Kara’s hair. “I’ve got you,” she whispers as she rubs Kara’s back. Kara’s body shakes with her sobs. “I’ve got you, Kara.”

Alex pulls her head back enough to look down at her sister’s profile. “We’re going to find who did this.”

Supergirl’s back straightens and she turns to her sister. Her eyes are bearing into Alex’s, and her face is expressionless apart from the trails of tears. “What’s the point?”

Her sister is gone before Alex has a chance to think of a response. Unable to hold it in any longer, a strangled cry escapes her before she’s curling over herself on the floor as her own sobs overtake her.

With Lena in her arms, Supergirl walks into the Fortress of Solitude. “Kelex?”

“Hello, Kara Zor-El.” The robotic voice that once reminded her of Krypton now only fuels her grief.

“I need to transfer data into a memory crystal.” She doesn’t recognize her own voice.

Kelex instructs her on how to prepare the crystal. She presses the command to begin the 5-D data transfer that would allow her to have an AI of Lena.

Nothing happens.

She presses the button again.

“Kelex,” she calls with a mixture of frustration and anxiety.

“Running diagnostics now.” Kryptonian lettering flashes before her. “Data could not be accessed.”

“What?” Her voice cracks.

“Data could not be accessed.”

“Try again!”

“Running diagnostics now… Data could not be accessed.”

Supergirl screams and blasts a section of the wall with her heat vision. “It has to!”

“Is there anything else I can help you with, Kara Zor-El?”

She bends over the table with Lena’s body, crying into Lena’s shirt as she wraps her hands in the fabric. “I don’t know how to fix this, Lena.”

* * *

 

Blinking in confusion, Kara lifts her head - not remembering falling asleep. She feels Lena’s body beneath her arm, and everything comes flooding back to her consciousness. A tear slides down her face, and she bites her lip as she refuses to take her eyes off of the ceiling.

Holding her breath, she allows her head to slowly turn down to see Lena laying beside her. Her grip around Lena tightens as a new wave of tears spills from her eyes. She allows herself a few minutes to cry into Lena’s neck before she pushes herself off of the table to stand beside her friend. In under a second, she goes to her apartment in the fortress and is back beside Lena with a fresh shirt.

“This isn’t your style, but it’s all I have.” She sniffles as she takes great care in removing the ruined blouse from Lena’s body to replace it with the deep, blue t-shirt. “That’s better.” With tear-stained cheeks, she looks at Lena. “I’m not letting you be buried anywhere near the Luthor mausoleum.” With that decision firmly in place, she takes Lena into her arms again.

* * *

 

Kara sits in the passenger seat in silence.

“I can go with -”

“No.” Kara sits up and takes off her seatbelt. “Don’t wait up for me.” She slams the car door behind her and begins walking away from her first home on this planet.

Alex rushes to exit the car, walking a few steps after her sister. “Kara, wait.”

With a bouquet grasped in her hand, Kara stops walking, but doesn’t turn to face her sister.

After a few false starts, Alex speaks with a voice so soft that she surprises herself. “I’ll wait up.”

Kara swallows heavily and continues walking.

Her mind remains unfocused until she is standing at the threshold of her destination. Adjusting her grip on the flowers, she takes a deep breath and continues walking. With conscious and steady breaths, she walks up to the stone placard detailing the memorial. She rests her free hand over the dedication, closing her eyes as she focuses on her breathing. Once she has regained control of her breathing, she opens her eyes.

She sucks in a breath as her vision blurs, but she can’t move.

When she finally releases the breath, it’s a barely restrained sob. Shaking her head, she removes her fogged glasses and shoves them in her pocket. Without removing her eyes from the name in front of her, she takes the last remaining steps until she close enough to touch the large stone.

“I brought your favorite,” she whispers.

Reaching up with her free hand, she removes the bouquet of white carnations and dark crimson roses that have barely begun to wilt from the holder. She replaces them with the plumerias surrounding a white and blue orchid. Her fingers linger on the petals before falling to her side. She clears her throat and looks at the name across from her.

“Has it really been five years?”

She sighs, chastising herself for still expecting an answer.

“Your plants are still alive…” She touches her hand to the cold stone. “I… can’t sleep there, though.” She sniffles. “I - I’ve tried.” Her forehead rests just above the “L.” “Why did you leave everything to Supergirl and me?” She takes a shaky breath. “I still see you everywhere.”

Several tears are pushed from her eyes when she shuts them.

Slowly, she slides down the stone until she’s on her knees with her head pressed against it. She presses both palms against the cold rock she scoured several planets to find to make sure it was good enough. The light wind stirs the petals of the flowers that dropped from her hand to the ground beside her. Kara begins humming a song her mother would sing to her when she was upset. By the end of it, her tears are staining her cheeks.

“I wish I could have sung that for you.” The slightest hint of a smile is at the corner of her lips. “Do you remember the first time you heard me sing?” She lets out a sob that almost sounds like a chuckle. “You went from shocked to overjoyed faster than I can fly across the city.”

She goes silent for a few moments. After a deep breath, she begins to sing Lena’s favorite song. As she sings, she plucks each individual petal from the carnations and roses and lets the wind scatter them over the ground around her. Through free flowing tears, she finishes the song with a constricting feeling in her chest. The last note turns into a sob that she does nothing to stifle.

The moon is high above her when she’s finally exhausted from crying.

Kara’s huddled against the stone with her arms wrapped around her knees and her head resting against the words she carved with her heat vision. She takes a slow, deep breath and releases it after a few seconds.

Her eyes turn skyward, searching for a speck of light from a source long dead. “Rao’s be done,” she whispers in her mother tongue before forcing herself to stand.

“I’m sorry I never said it.”

As she walks away, her fingers trail along the stone over the words, “I love you, too.”


End file.
